By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

POPLARVILLE — Two of the top juco teams in the nation will meet for the state championship on Saturday.

Homestanding Gulf Coast will take on visiting Pearl River for the title, and the Bulldogs are ranked seventh in the nation and the Wildcats are ranked 10th.

Gulf Coast is the defending state and national champions, while PRCC won four straight state titles from 2003-2006 before missing the state playoffs last year.

The winner of Saturday’s game will earn a berth in the first ever Mississippi Bowl, set for Sunday, Dec. 13th in Biloxi.

“Unfortunately, this year’s state championship game doesn’t have any national title implications, but it’s always a huge game,” PRCC head coach Tim Hatten said. “Pearl River and Perk are the best two teams in the league by far. That’s the way it should be and, in my opinion, there’s nobody else that really a close third even though East Mississippi made some great strides this year in the North Division”

The Bulldogs entered the season ranked No. 3 in the preseason, then moved up to second in the balloting for two weeks before getting beat. Pearl River, on the other hand, entered its year at 13th in the preseason poll and managed to move up to as high as sixth before losing to MGC 10-3.